The pet with the most votes will win the coveted 2018 Calendar Cover Model spot.

Also, the top 12 photos with the most votes will be featured on a month inside of the calendar, including the Cover Model.

The remaining contestants will be featured throughout the calendar on individual dates. The Photo Contest will run through Sunday, November 12th at 10:00 pm Central time.

In addition, we are running a several “Mini-Contests” within the Photo Contest. Our first Mini-Contest endstonight (THURSDAY, October 5th at midnight) and the prize is a Bissell Total Floors Upright Vacuum* ($150 value)!

Bissell Total Floors Upright Vacuum

The contestant who gets the MOST VOTES during the Mini-Contest (ending TONIGHT, October 5th) will win the Bissell vacuum! (Only the votes acquired DURING Mini-Contest Time Period will be counted towards the Mini-Contest prize. Votes made before the Mini-Contest started will NOT be counted towards the Mini-Contest prize, however, ALL votes made during the Mini-Contest will ALSO be counted towards the Grand Prize of being our 2018 Calendar Cover model. )

Chelsea is currently in the lead in this week’s Mini-Contest with 35 votes but there are several contestants close behind her.

Chelsea

CLICK THIS LINK to enter your pet in our contest to win some cool prizes and to win the coveted 2018 Calendar Cover Model spot!

Then make sure to ask all of yor friends and family to VOTE for your pet. There are Sharing buttons available for your pet’s picture, after you enter the contest.

*See more pictures and read all about this awesome vacuum at this link.

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Harris County Animal Control (HCAC) had taken Diesel, Chelsea and a puppy because someone had complained about them “running loose”. However, when the animal control officer (ACO) showed up, the dogs were inside their fence, on their own property. The ACO told the daughter of the dogs’ owner, Amy Kroll, that she would be fined $500 PER DOG ($1,500) because the dogs had been reported as “loose”. No one reported them as aggressive. They did not try to harm anyone. No, someone allegedly reported that her dogs had been outside of their fence, and Ms. Kroll was told that she had to pay the ACO $1,500 or he would take her pets.

Ms. Kroll did not have $1,500. As it happens, the dogs belonged to Ms. Kroll’s mother, Cathy Foster. Ms. Foster has suffered some serious losses recently. Her husband died and her house was recently destroyed in a fire, so she had been living with her daughter. Her dogs were normally inside only dogs, but after her house burned down, they had to stay in the fenced yard temporarily.

But, instead of talking to Ms. Kroll to find out why the dogs might have been “loose”, and maybe even helping her to rectify any issue that might have allowed the dogs outside their fence, the ACO forced Ms. Kroll to relinquish the dogs—to a high kill pound.

Charging rexhorbitant fines and fees, that few people can afford; forcing people to relinquish their pets; and holding a person’s beloved pets for ransom, in a facility that kills thousands of pets every year, is the equivalent of EXTORTION.

It should be noted that the fines/fees that Harris County employees told Ms. Foster and her family that they owed, changed a number of times over several days, and no one at HCAC could give a clear explanation of what the fees were for.

At one point, HCAC told Ms. Foster that she would have to pay an “extra” fee because the address listed on Diesel and Chelsea’s microchip was in Montgomery County (Ms. Foster’s house that burned down.) This is insane. People should not be charged more fees because the address on their pet’s microchip is in a different county than the pound where they were taken. And it’s not like they even needed the microchips to contact Ms. Foster or Ms. Kroll, since the ACO took the dogs from her own front yard.

Even HCAC’s director, Michael White, could not explain why his own employees told Ms. Foster that she would have to pay “extra” fees. Nor could he explain why his own employees told her different amounts on multiple occasions.

This whole thing sounds like a big SCAM. It sounds like some Harris County employees are overcharging distraught pet owners, while holding their pets for ransom, and pocketing the excess “fees”.

Ms. Foster and her family, did not have $1,500, $900, $700, $600 or any of the other ridiculous charges that HCAC employees claimed that she owed, so she was forced to give the puppy to a rescue group to avoid paying HCAC’s ridiculous fine. She told HCAC employees that they would pick up Diesel and Chelsea in 2 days when she got paid again. This time HCAC told her that she owed $200 EACH for Chelsea and Diesel.

Even after Ms. Foster, and her family, called HCAC multiple times about her dogs; and even though she called HCAC before she left her house to pick up her dogs from HCAC; and even though Chelsea and Diesel’s kennel cards allegedly say that their owner was going to pick them up…. HCAC employees KILLED Chelsea.

Diesel was next in line. If Ms. Foster had arrived minutes later, HCAC would have killed Diesel too. Chelsea was the only thing that Ms. Foster had left that had belonged to her and her deceased husband. She has lost everything else, and now this facility has killed her beloved pet.

And over what? What exactly did taking these pets to the pound solve? These dogs were not dangerous. They were beloved family pets that may, or may not, have been outside of their yard at some point in time. If the issue was an inadequate fence, this family sure could not afford to repair it now, after paying HCAC’s ransom.

HCAC’s actions solved absolutely nothing, other than to enrich their own employees.

When HCAC’s director, Michael White, was made aware of this horrendous situation, one of his responses to Ms. Foster was “we can give you another dog“. Seriously? He actually thinks that giving this woman another dog will make everything OK?

The fact that he thinks that a pet lover can just exchange one dog for another, like he/she is a piece of furniture, is a clear example of an extreme issue with the director of this facility.

The employees at Harris County claim that killing Chelsea was an “accident”. But, this facility killed a horrifying 9,562 animals in 2016. That is an average of 26 animals killed every single day of the year.

Considering that they are open 5 hours or less per day, that is 5+ animals killed EVERY SINGLE HOUR, of EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR.

Let’s face it, it is not really an “accident” when this facility is an assembly line of death, day in and day out.

And this is not a “shelter” when there is very little actual sheltering going on. That facility is a revolving door of death. Slaughterhouse would be a more accurate description.

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And to add insult to injury, HCAC was on the local news about a week ago, saying they were “overcrowded” and asking people to adopt or foster etc. So the HC animal control officer, knew that if he took Ms. Foster’s pets to the pound, that other dogs would be killed to make room. He knew this and yet he coerced Ms. Kroll into relinquishing her mother’s pets to the high kill pound anyway.

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It actually costs more to kill pets than it does to save them.

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So, in their extortion of Ms. Kroll, it actually cost HCAC (i.e. it cost Harris Co. taxpayers) $106 to intake and kill a loved and WANTED pet. It also cost HCAC money to intake and “shelter” Diesel and the puppy, when it was totally unnecessary. These pets HAD homes. The heartache that they have caused Ms. Kroll and her family is immeasurable.

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HCAC’s directorshould be comprehensively implementing programs that reduce intakes. He should be working hard to find ways to keep pets out of that high kill pound. He should be working hard to comprehensively implement the programs that have been proven, for years, to both decrease intakes and increase live outcomes.

He, and his employees, should not be intimidating and coercing people into relinquishing their beloved pets, especially for something as trivial as “some dogs” were reported as being loose. Not only is this cruel, inhumane and costly, but doing so only drives up intakes and drives up the killing, as this horrific story clearly illustrates.

I have to wonder if Dr. White has even bothered to visit any Open Admission, No Kill shelters to find out how they ended the killing? There are 200+ of them now, including 6 right here in Texas, including 2 entire Texas counties. http://www.Savin90.org Has White even bothered to research any of them?

I’m going to guess that he has not, since he has not bothered to comprehensively implement well known, common sense, cost effective, life saving programs. Apparently, remaining in the dark ages of catch and kill sheltering is simply easier.

Folks, this is your taxpayer funded animal control facility. Harris County Judge, Ed Emmett and the 4 Harris County Commissioners should be ashamed that they have allowed a county dept to function like a third world country. These people are ultimately over this facility, and the leadership and employees working there. Yet they have not required that their employees implement the programs and services which have ended killing all over the country.

If you are sick and tired of the horrendously high killing at our animal “shelters”, then speak out to your elected officials. Tell them that this issue matters to you and that you expect better from your taxpayer fundeddepartments.

Tell them that you will not vote for people who do not represent your values. And if they do not represent your values, then VOTE THEM OUT OFFICE during the next election.

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Houston, TX (Reposting my article which originally appeared in Examiner.com on 5/13/2010. Examiner.com has shut down it’s website and the article is no longer available there, so I am re-posting it here.)

According to the No Kill Equation, “one of the most overlooked areas for reducing killing in animal control shelters are lost animal reclaims. Sadly, besides having pet owners fill out a lost pet report, very little effort is made in this area of shelter operations.” This is deplorable because, when shelters aggressively pursue this opportunity, they are able to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families.

A prime example of the enormous impact that reclaims can have on life saving is Washoe County, (Reno) Nevada whose shelters reunite approximately 60% of dogs with their owners. In fact, Washoe County has one of the highest returned-to-owner rates in the nation. They accomplished this by being proactive in their efforts, rather than blaming the community.

Let’s compare Washoe County to BARC (Houston’s animal control facility). At the time of Nathan Winograd’s assessment of BARC in September 2009, it had 1% redemption rate for cats and a 7% redemption rate for dogs.

Repeat: That is a 60% redemption rate for dogs at Washoe Co. animal control, but only 7% at BARC.

The following story is a perfect example of why BARC returns only 7% of lost dogs to owners. Unfortunately, this example is repeated every day.

On March 14, 2010, Brian Simon lost his Chihuahua, Nino. On March 15, Mr. Simon went to BARC to search for Nino. He did not find his dog so BARC’s kennel supervisor told Mr. Simon to leave his “Lost” flyer on BARC’s bulletin board.

Mr. Simon was told that BARC employees looked at the bulletin board regularly to match up lost pets. He relied on BARC’s assurances and unfortunately that was a big mistake. Those familiar with BARC know that the bulletin board is rarely, if ever, reviewed before animals are killed.

Even if BARC employees were checking the bulletin board regularly, it is absurd to think that anyone could match up animals against the mountain of paper hanging there. See the picture above. It is more sickening that Nathan Winograd’s assessment report includes instructions on how to set up a lost and found program that actually works (see page 37-39), yet BARC has not even attempted to institute this program.

On March 17, two days after Mr. Simon reported Nino lost, a Chihuahua matching Nino’s description was brought to BARC. (See below. Nino is on the left. The Chihuahua brought to BARC is on the right) The Chihuahua at BARC had been picked up very close to the location where Nino was last seen, yet no one contacted Mr. Simon to tell him that a Chihuahua matching Nino’s description was at BARC.

Dog on Left: Picture of Nino that his owner posted on BARC’s “lost” bulletin board — Dog on Right: Stray/lost dog that was picked up in the same area where Nino was lost, 2 days after Nino went missing

On March 21, four days after arriving at BARC, the Chihuahua was killed. It is appalling that no one attempted to find his owner and he was never considered for adoption. See the Fox 26 news report here.

Below is a picture of the bulletin board taken by Nathan Winograd in September 2009. Compare it to the picture of the bulletin board above taken by Fox 26. With BARC’s measly 1% redemption rate for cats and a 7% redemption rate for dogs, why has absolutely nothing changed in the last 8 months?

BARC’s “lost pet” bulletin board in September, 2009

If we take Washoe County’s 60% percent reclaim rate for dogs and apply it to BARC’s intakes, it would translate to a staggering 8,100 dogs that are killed at BARC who are actually lost with families who want them back.*

That is 8,100 cages, that are being used, that could instead be freed up so truly homeless pets would have more time.

This means BARC would kill 8,100 fewer animals which would also save $972,000 because it costs roughly $120 to house an animal for 3 days then kill him/her and dispose of the body.

The only reason that those 8,100 lost dogs (and many more thousands of lost cats) are being killed each year is because BARC has not instituted an effective program that would reunite these animals with their owners even though instructions for an effective program are literally sitting at BARC and at city hall.

Remember little Nino, and the other 8,100 dogs just like him, with families who want them back, but who will be killed at BARC this year.

As I’ve said in previous articles, whether a shelter stops killing depends on the shelter director. So, I have to ask, when will the Mayor and city council hire a shelter director for BARC who will pursue every avenue that has been proven to save lives?

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An effective Return to Ownerprogram would cost little to nothing to implement but could save literally thousands of lives, and would actually SAVE money for BARC/City of Houston because of reduced intakes. Yet BARC’s leadership has not attempted to implement such a program.

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This is horrendous and inexcusable. And again, this is a shelter leadership issue.

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Houston, TX – In response to Houston Voters for Companion Animals‘ Candidate Survey, Sylvester Turner stated “Implementing a no-kill policy should be the ultimate goal for Houston’s animal control. As mayor, I will champion policies in pursuit of that goal”.

Many shelters are saving ALL healthy and treatable pets even though they have HIGHER Intakes Per Capita than BARC (meaning they have a harder job saving shelter pets than BARC’s director).

Those shelters accomplished their high Save Rates because of compassionate, hard working shelter LEADERSHIP who has COMPREHENSIVELY implemented the programs of the No Kill model of sheltering.

BARC could stop killing pets too IF it had the same type of leadership.

Please SPEAK for shelter pets and ask Mayor Turner to keep his campaign promises. He could end the killing of shelter pets at BARC by instructing his employees, BARC leadership, to COMPREHENSIVELY implement proven solutions — or he could hire new leadership for BARC who will.

It will open a pre-written email to the mayor and city council. It takes only seconds, but could help save thousands of shelter pets.

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No Kill Houstonhas been nominated for the Halliburton Hometown Hero Program again! The three charities receiving the most nominations will each receive a $5,000 donation from Halliburton. Last year, they came in 4th. This year, they want to make it to #1!

They need YOUR nominations to make it to the #1 spot and win $5,000 that they can use to push for more lifesaving programs in Houston’s kill shelters!

*Don’t forget to say why you are nominating No Kill Houston… such as their advocacy work to end shelter killing in Houston’s 5 kill shelters.

You can vote for No Kill Houston every day until the contest ends on June 2nd!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family and ask them to nominate No Kill Houston as well!

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Houston, Texas – I received December 2016’s intake and outcome records for BARC (Houston’s taxpayer funded animal control facility). I calculated the Save Rates, and although they are slightly better than 2015, 6,643 pets were killed by BARC in 2016.

That is an average of 553.5 pets killed every single month, or 18.2 pets killed by BARC EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR IN 2016.

That is nothing to be proud of, in my opinion.

A dog killed by BARC in 2016

Here is a breakdown for 2016:

BARC had a 23.24% Kill Rate / 76.76% Save Rate for all animals

BARC had a 22.56% Kill Rate / 77.44% Save Rate for dogs and cats only

6,643 Animals were killed or lost by BARC (including “Other” animals)

6,239 Dog and Cats were killed or lost by BARC

28,579 Total Intakes

8,865 Dog and Cat Adoptions – 32% Adoption rate

9,149 Dogs and Cats transferred to rescue groups and transporters being paid to ship pets to other states

From looking at the huge numbers of pets still being killed, it is pretty clear that shelter leadership could do many things that would increase the Save Rates, both immedately and in the long term.

The first thing, that would have an immediate impact, is a comprehensive offsite adoption program. This would not only save more lives, but it would also bring in additional revenue to BARC. Win-win.

Comprehensive is the key word that BARC leadership continues to ignore though. Houston stretches an enormous 623 square miles. It should be clear to anyone that BARC’s facility on Carr St. is not convenient to a large number of Houstonians i.e. potential adopters. In addition, some people will absolutely never, ever, go to a kill shelter. This is why comprehensive offsite adoption venues are critical to saving enough lives to end shelter killing. Nathan Winograd told BARC and City of Houston officials this back in 2009.

After quite a bit of searching of BARC’s website, I finally found this calendar at the bottom of a page.

The calendar lists ONE offsite adoption venue only 3 days per week. And TWO offsite adoption venues, only 1 day per week…. in a city that spans 623 square miles. BARC should have ten times the number of offsite adoption venues that San Francisco had, but instead they have a tiny fraction of that amount.

And to make matters worse, 2 of the 4 days that show offsite adoptions are work days for most people i.e. potential adopters. Yet the hours BARC is available for adoptions is 11 to 4 or 11 to 5. This means that the vast majority of the target adopting public will be unable to utilize these adoptions because they will be working.

In addition, BARC’s Carr St. facility is open for adoptions when most of the target adopting public would be at work. The below is posted on their website.

Considering the traffic and the sheer size of Houston, most working people would never be able to adopt from BARC during the week.

This is NOT comprehensively implementing an offsite adoption program.

Likewise, most people with jobs, would be unlikely to be able to get to BARC to search for their lost pets before BARC closes. Since the stray hold period is only 3 days, a lost and loved, pet could be killed by BARC before the owner had the opportunity to get to BARC to search for their pet.

Making small changes would solve this issue. Simply altering the hours that BARC is open to the public for adoptions, and to search for lost pets, would save many lives and also save money. It would get more pets into loving homes, or back to their families, and it would save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars every year.

Another adoptable pet killed by BARC in 2016

Something so simple, and free, could have a profound impact on lifesaving.

So, why isn’t it being implemented by BARC leadership?

Another program that could save thousands of lives, and hundreds of thousands of dollars is an effective and comprehensive Return to Owner program. BARC’s Return to Owner rate has hovered at about 7% for years. Yet, other Open Admission, No Kill shelters have RTO rates of 60% to 65%.

I calculated that if BARC comprehensively implemented the same Return to Owner program that other shelters implemented, it could free up 8,100 kennels per year for pets who are truly homeless.

It would also save over $900,000…. because it costs money to intake, process and then kill pets.

Nathan Winograd also told BARC/City of Houston that this program should be implemented back in 2009. This program would cost little to nothing to implement, yet BARC leadership has not bothered to comprehensively implement such a program. Again, I have to ask why not?

So, the bottom line is that the Save Rate at BARC, has increased slightly from 2015 to 2016. But more than SIX THOUSAND animals were still killed by BARC in 2016 while simple, cost effective and FREE programs, were not comprehensively implemented.

This is horrendous and inexcusable. And as usual, this is a shelter leadership issue.

But, this issue has a solution….. a pink slip.

Please SPEAK OUT for shelter pets. If we do not demand better from our shelters, the killing will never end.

No Kill Houston has made it very easy for you to contact your elected officials, who could increase the Save Rates. They have programmed a link that will create a pre-written, pre-addressed email that you can send.

If you wish to receive an email notification each time I write a new blog post here, please click the blueFollowlink at top right corner of your screen. (Note: The link may not be visible if you are reading this blog in an email. If you cannot see the link in an email, click the title of the blog to be taken to my blog’s website.)

Houston, Harris County, Texas – I received the 2016 intake and outcome records for Harris County Animal Control (“HCAC”). I calculated the Save Rates, and although they are better than 2015, they are still not great by any stretch of the imagination.

If you would like to view the intake and outcome reports (gathered thru a Public Information Request), I have posted them on No Kill Houston’s website here.

A dog killed by Harris County animal control

Here is a comparison of 2016’s numbers to 2015

So, Intakes decreased and their Save Rate increased, which are both good, however, HCAC killed or lost a horrifying 75.44% of all cats!

Cats lost out in every category compared to dogs. Their adoption rates are far less; the numbers returned to their owners are shockingly low; and even though the number of cat Intakes decreased by 1,114, Harris Co AC still killed 5,531 cats.

Clearly, there is a lot more that could be done to save the pets entering HCAC, especially for cats.

One program that would be easy, and cost effective, to implement is a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program for feral cats. Pretty much every community, that I have ever studied, has a TNR program. TNR is supported by every national humane organization as a humane and cost effective means of population control. And yet shelter leadership in Harris County, which is the most populous county in Texas, and the 3rd most populated in the US, still has not implemented a TNR program.

Shelter leadership at HCAC has remained in the dark ages of catch and kill sheltering for feral cats. That is disgraceful, to say the least.

Another program that would increase adoptions dramatically, and also bring in revenue for HCAC, is an effective and comprehensive offsite adoption program. Harris County spans an enormous 1,777 square miles. It should be clear to anyone that their facility on Canino Road is not convenient for a huge number of Harris County residents. In addition, some people will absolutely never, ever, go to a kill shelter. That is why offsite adoption locations are critical to saving enough lives to end shelter killing.

Yet, I searched the website for HCAC, looking for any offsite adoption locations and could find only one, for cats only, mentioned i.e. “PETCO River Oaks”. While this is a great location, to my dismay, it appears that HCAC leadership has made it incredibly difficult for people to adopt a cat from this location.

This is what is posted on their website:

“You need to fill out our adoption application and return the application to HCPH Veterinary Public Health either in person or by faxing to (281) 847-1911. The application will be reviewed and then you will have 24 hours to come and pay the adoption fee, in person at our shelter during regular adoption hours. The cats located at our adoption partner PETCO River Oaks are ready for adoption. Adopters will be considered on a first come, first served basis. Please note the name and animal identification number (AID) on the application. It is important that you bring your application to our shelter during regular adoption hours as soon as possible. Once you have completed the application process and paid the adoption fee, you will be given paperwork to take to the PETCO River Oaks to pick up your new pet.”

It should be noted that, according to HCAC’s website, the “adoption hours” referenced above, are from 1:00 to 5:30 Monday – Friday, and 11:00 to 3:00 on Saturday and Sunday. So, if a person found the cat that they wanted to adopt on a Sunday, most working people would not be able to drive to HCAC’s facility on Canino Rd within 24 hours… because they have jobs. So HCAC’s target potential adopter i.e. people with jobs, will not be able to take advantage of these offsite adoptions in any great number.

It doesn’t make sense to make people jump through multiple hoops, and drive across town in Houston traffic, to another location (a kill shelter), just to pay the adoption fee so that they can drive back across town again, to the first location to adopt. This is ridiculous and defeats the whole purpose of “offsite adoptions”. A lot of people are likely to just give up and go somewhere else that is less hassle, including breeders.

Since HCAC KILLED5,531 in 2016, the intelligent and compassionate thing to do to decrease shelter killing would be to make it as easy as humanly possible for people to adopt.

One idea to increase adoptions would be for volunteers to either volunteer at that the PETCO location, and/or to take calls to immediately interview potential adopters. In a county with 4.5 MILLION residents, it shouldn’t be hard to find enough volunteers to help with this. This is so common sense to me. So, why hasn’t shelter leadership seen this barrier to adoptions, and rectified it?

Another issue is that, after some searching, I found mention of a Mobile Adoption event on “Harris County Animal Shelter’s” Facebook page. But, I couldn’t find any mention of mobile adoption events anywhere on HCAC’s web site. Why not?

Marketing adoptable pets is a crucial part of saving lives. It is a program that is so simple and, with a little work, pretty much free to implement,but I could not find any mention of a mobile adoption at all on their website.

So, the bottom line is that the Save Rate at Harris County animal control has increased from 2015 to 2016, which is good.

As we have seen so many times before, this is a shelter leadership issue.

Please SPEAK OUT for shelter pets. If we do not demand better from our shelters, the killing will never end. No Kill Houston has made it very easy for you to contact your elected officials, who could increase the Save Rates.

If you wish to receive an email notification each time I write a new blog post here, please click the blueFollowlink at top right corner of your screen. (Note: The link may not be visible if you are reading this blog in an email. If you cannot see the link in an email, click the title of the blog to be taken to my blog’s website.)

Houston, TX – Last year, I wrote about Councilman Boykins’ plan to pay $50,000 to BARC (Houston’s animal control) for BARC to work overtime doing “sweeps” in his District. Of course, we knew this would mean more death to more pets at BARC.

Many people called and wrote Boykins and asked him to consider non-lethal options instead, but he refused to listen.

One of Boykins’ staffers wrote me claiming “Please be advised that the allocated funds will cover the costs to intake an animal, care for it at BARC for the average length of stay, market it and find a live release home for it. The cost is approximately $180 – $200/per animal for these services, thus allowing the animal control officers to pick-up and secure the adoption of approximately 250 – 270 dogs. Adoption is an integral part of this initiative and our office is not advocating, nor supporting any lethal solutions.”

But BARC killed 7,715 pets in 2015 alone, so everyone knew that BARC leadership would not require that his employees work harder to get these additional pets adopted, and Boykins did not require that BARC use his $50,000 to save those lives. Boykins just wanted the pets picked up. He didn’t care what happened to them.

Anyone familiar with BARC knew that these sweeps would result in mass slaughter, and we were right.

The kennel cards of those pets picked during Boykins’ “$50,000 sweep” show that, of the 224 pets picked up , 74 pets were killed by BARC. 10 kennel cards do not list an outcome, so I would bet that those pets were killed as well. If those animals had been adopted out or sent to rescue, there would like be notations about it.

The above equals a 33% to 37.5% KILL RATE. And, of course, that does not include the pets, that were already at BARC, and who were killed to make room for the increased intakes.

The kennel cards for the animals picked up in Boykins’ $50,000 sweeps are posted here.

The pictures of the dogs and cat that BARC killed are posted below. These are pets that Boykins paid BARC to kill. And BARC leadership was happy to oblige because they did nothing differently to make sure that these pets made it out alive.

It breaks my heart to look into all the faces that Councilman Boykins paid BARC to kill.

Remember, your tax dollars were used to kill these pets, instead of being used to save them. Demand better than this from your elected officials. Demand that the mayor require BARC to comprehensively implement all of the programs of the No Kill model of sheltering.

From No Kill Houston: “To the animal lovers who want to help us help shelter pets in Houston, we need you SPEAK OUT in mass. We do not want to see a repeat of Councilman Boykins’ & BARC’s $50,000 killing spree before the Super Bowl.

We have made it very easy for animal lovers to SPEAK OUT for shelter pets by contacting the mayor and city council. We have programmed a link on our web page that will open a pre-addressed, pre-written email to all.

If you wish to receive an email notification each time I post a new article here, please click the blueFollowlink on the right near the top of this page. (Note: The link may not be visible if you are reading this blog in an email. If you cannot see the link in an email, click the title of the blog to be taken to my blog’s website.)

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Houston, TX – No Kill Houston’s 2017 Pin Up Calendar is now on sale! The top 12 photos with the most votes in their Photo Contest are featured on a full page in the new Calendar, along with their stories.

Waffle got the most votes and is our 2017 Cover Model and also featured in December. Waffle is our 1st kitty Cover Model! ALL of the other contestants are featured on a date somewhere in our calendar as well.

This calendar is GORGEOUS, full of heartwarming stories and helps raise money for charity. It is a win-win-win!

There is still time to order your copies and get them in plenty of time to give as CHRISTMAS GIFTS!

Houston, TX – The city of Houston is asking for YOUR INPUT on what priorities that you want the city to focus on.

According to the Plan Houston website: “In 2015, Houston’s City Council took the groundbreaking step of adopting the city’s first general plan, Plan Houston. The Plan describes a vision and goals for our community and identifies twelve core strategies that represent the City’s approach for achieving the vision.

The City of Houston is now actively working towards achieving the community goals laid out in Plan Houston. The next step is to understand the community’s interests so that policy makers can consider them as they develop City priorities for the next budget year. The City’s next fiscal year begins July 1, 2017.

You can share your thoughts on what the City should be focusing on by responding to a brief survey.“

I have reviewed the city’s current plan, and could find absolutely no mention of animal issues nor addressing Houston’s high kill sheltering issues.

This needs to change.

I believe that animal lovers CARE DEEPLY about animal issues and I am asking you to tell the mayor and city council this. This is YOUR opportunity to tell them what is a priority for you.

Please TELL the mayor and city council that you want them to work hard to end the barbaric killing of 80,000+ shelter pets every year in Houston. There is a solution to end shelter killing. But the mayor must require his city employees work hard to implement the solution comprehensively.

On the Survey, there are no choices for “ending the killing of shelter pets” under Choice A, B or C, so you will have to type it in under “Other”.

Then, please explain your choice in Box #3. If you need help writing a statement for Box #3, I have posted my statement below that you can copy and paste and edit as you wish.

According to the Mayor’s Task Force report, these 5 shelters are killing approximately 80,000 pets every year. Some people believe the number is now closer to 100,000. However, there are now 200+ Open Admission shelters, serving 500+ cities and towns, who are saving 90% up to 100% of all animals entering their doors. Leadership in these shelters have comprehensively implemented a series of programs and services, called the No Kill model of sheltering which has effectively ended killing of healthy and treatable shelter pets.

I want the mayor and city council to focus on putting leadership in place at BARC who will comprehensively implement the same programs and services that have ended shelter killing around the country. BARC may be better than it was in years past, but BARC also killed more than 7,700 pets in 2015 alone. That simply is not good enough when there is a proven solution to end the killing.

Houston is a city of passionate animal lovers. We spend millions of dollars on our pets each year, and we spend millions of dollars to help homeless pets. Animal charities represent the largest growing sector of philanthropy.

If the mayor and city council made a concerted effort to end shelter killing at BARC, Houstonians would step up to help with their time and with their donations.

But, we need the mayor and city council to step up and put BARC on the right track.

As a Houston voter, who voted for Mayor Turner based on his responses to Houston Voters for Companion Animals Candidate Survey, I want him to keep his campaign promise when he said “Implementing a no-kill policy should be the ultimate goal for Houston’s animal control. As mayor, I will champion policies in pursuit of that goal” and when he said “I will work until they all have a forever home.“

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Houston, TX – I recently ran across the below photo. The caption congratulates “Sherry Ferguson from the Houston Humane Society who was recognized for her hard work fighting animal cruelty”. The recognition came from the Texas Humane Legislative Network (THLN).

The Houston “Humane” Society is a facility that KILLS 89%* of all pets entering their doors, according to their last reported Save Rate.

In other words, nearly 9 out of 10 pets that enter the Houston “Humane” Society are KILLED.

The last time that the Houston “Humane” Society was somewhat transparent with their intake and outcome numbers, they reported killing more than 15,300 pets in one year. If the Houston Humane Society has been killing the same number of pets every year since that time, that means more than 237,000 pets have been killed by the Houston “Humane” Society, under Sherry Ferguson’s direction.

And if the Houston Humane Society has been killing the same number of pets since Sherry Ferguson was hired in 1984, they have killed more than 489,600 pets under her direction.

I do not understand how any person, or any organization that claims to be “humane”, gets to the point where they give awards to people who have been responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of animals instead of working to protect those animals’ lives.

Thousands, if not millions, of animal lovers were outraged when they learned that a vet killed a cat named Tiger.

Millions of people were outraged when they learned that a dentist killed a lion named Cecil.

Where is the outrage among animal lovers and “humane” organizations when a person kills tens of thousands of shelter pets every year for decades? Shouldn’t we expect more from the people who are paid to care for shelter pets? Shouldn’t we expect shelter directors to, you know, actually “shelter” pets not kill them?

Killing is the ultimate form of animal cruelty because it is a cruelty than animals can never come back from. They can come back from other forms of cruelty and go on to live happy lives. We saw this with Michael Vick victims who went on to live with families after their horrendous ordeal. But, pets cannot recover after being killed.

So then why would a “humane” organization give an award to the person who has carried out the absolute antithesis of “fighting animal cruelty” by perpetuating the worst form of cruelty herself hundreds of thousands of times for decades?

Let’s think of this another way: If Child Protective Services took children from cruel or abusive situations, then turned around and killed those children, would we congratulate them? Would we call that being rescued? Would anyone claim that CPS had worked to fight against cruelty to those children? Would any other child-protective organization give those killers an award for “fighting cruelty to children”? Of course not.

The animals have no voice. We have to be their voice. We must stand up for what is right, and we must fight against what is wrong. We must have the strength of character to stand up to “friends” and “humane” organizations and say “Killing pets when there are life saving alternatives is wrong and it must end.”***

We must protect shelter pets with our voices by constantly demanding better from shelter leadership. And we must protect pets with our wallets by not funding kill shelters, or their defenders.

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*According to the Mayor’s Task Force report. I have asked the Houston “Humane” Society to voluntarily provide their current intake and outcome numbers, but they refuse. I have to assume that their kill rates are currently just as high, or higher now. If their kill rates had dropped, I have to assume that they would gladly provide information to show their improvement.

** The Houston “Humane” Society is Limited Admission, meaning they can say no to intakes when they get full.

*This is a reprint of my article that appeared on Examiner.com. Examiner.com has shut down its website, and articles are no longer accessible, so I am moving my articles to my blog site here.

(Originally printed December 8, 2011) Houston, TX- I recently received a disturbing from a heartbroken woman. I’m printing her email below exactly as she wrote it (except for removing a rescue group’s name) because it so clearly illustrates the serious issues plaguing so called “shelters” that are costing thousands of animals their lives.

“I made a terrible horrible mistake. I found a beautiful black and tan healthy Cocker Spaniel mix with a red collar no tags on an extremely busy road very close to the Humane Society. Stupidly I thought the best way for her to be found by her owners was to take her to the HUMANE Society. I told them I would be back to get her with the group I foster with (___) on day 3 which I was told she would be evaluated. I have 5 dogs, 2 which are fosters. I was not prepared to take her home. It takes some time to get these things worked out. So, when I called today I was told I would have to adopt. I said I was pulling her through a rescue and we could handle any treatments and neutering. She said they wouldn’t do that. I asked if she was still there. Did her owners come and find her? She said couldn’t give out that info. I said I am trying to help this dog what is your problem. Isn’t this the HUMANE Society? She said you signed a contract. She said this about 5 times. After about 15 minutes of this crap, she finally told me they had already euthanized her. This dog was sweet and fat and beautiful and obviously someone’s dog. When I took her through the clinic part 4 people said how cute she was. They did not even give her 2.5 days. Even BARC gives them 3 full days and allows rescue groups to take the dogs. They were not interested at all in me trying to come and get her. In fact, she pretty much discouraged me trying to help this dog in any way. This is just so wrong. I am sick that I did this. Please write about this in your news paper. I thought i was helping this dog to reunite with her people and I killed her. Never in a million years would I have thought they would euthanize this dog. Jennifer __”

Jennifer is a kind hearted person who tried to help Bella*, a little lost dog that she found on the side of a busy street*. Jennifer did what most people think is the best thing to do when they find a lost or stray pet…. she took Bella to an animal shelter. After all, animal shelters are supposed to be just that… shelters. They are supposed to be a place of refuge and safe havens where shelter workers work hard to make sure that lost animals find their way back home and homeless pets find new homes.

And Jennifer did more than the average person who finds a lost or homeless pet. She didn’t just drop Bella off and expect the shelter to do all of the work. No, she told the Houston Humane Society (HHS) that if Bella’s owner did not find her during the 3 day hold period, she would pull Bella from the shelter, through a rescue group, and foster her in her own home while she tried to find Bella’s owner herself. Jennifer talked at length with a HHS employee regarding the exact date and time that Bella’s 3 day hold would expire. The only thing that the Houston Humane Society had to do was hold Bella for 72 hours and hope that her family thought of looking for her there.

Jennifer took Bella to the Houston Humane Society on November 1 at 10:00 am. She was told that Bella’s 3 day hold period would expire on November 4 at 10:00 am. But, when Jennifer called HHS on November 3 at 3:00 pm to make arrangements to pick up Bella the following day, she was horrified to discover that the Houston Humane Society had already killed her. How long did the HHS wait before they killed Bella? Did they kill her the same day, as soon as Jennifer left the building? We don’t know exactly when the Houston Humane Society killed Bella because they consistently refuse to be honest with the public and release their intake and outcome records. However, we do know that Houston Humane Society killed Bella before Jennifer called to check on her, which was within 53 hours, or barely over 2 days.

Now a little dog, who was obviously someone’s loved lost pet, is dead and Jennifer blames herself for taking her to this “shelter”. But it is not Jennifer’s fault that Bella was killed. Jennifer, and thousands of other people, have been told that shelters are doing everything that they can to save animals. People believe that everyone who works at an animal shelter works hard to save their lives. They believe the “shelters’” claims that they do not want to kill animals, but they have no choice because the so called “irresponsible public” forces them to kill animals. Many people are not aware that some “shelters” are hiding hideously dark and nefarious secrets.

Of course, “shelters” like the Houston Humane Society do not tell the public or donors that they are actually little more than assembly lines of death, killing thousands of healthy and treatable, adoptable and even owned pets, even when alternatives are standing right in front of them. And unfortunately, it took the Houston Humane Society’s killing of an innocent little lost dog, to make Jennifer painfully aware of the reality of what is really going on at the Houston Humane Society.

It is despicable and immoral that a self-proclaimed “animal shelter” and “humane society” would kill an obviously owned, healthy pet within 53 hours, especially when a rescuer was begging to save her. Bella’s owner is probably still searching for her believing that she might one day return home. Bella’s family will probably never know that she even entered Houston Humane Society because Houston Humane Society could not be bothered to care for Bella long enough for her owner’s to find her. HHS could not be bothered to even offer Bella for adoption. And Houston Humane Society could not be bothered to try to find a foster home or rescue group to take Bella instead of killing her.

To make matters worse, Houston Humane Society didn’t even have to lift a finger to find a foster home because a rescue group had already offered to save Bella. But the Houston Humane Society couldn’t be bothered to hold her for the full 3 day hold period.

Houston Humane Society couldn’t even be bothered to call Jennifer and tell her that they planned to kill Bella before her 3 day hold expired to give Jennifer a chance to pick up Bella earlier. No, the Houston Humane Society killed Bella even when alternatives were beating down their door begging to save her life. How many thousands of animals have suffered the same fate as Bella at this so called “shelter”?

And to add insult to injury, Houston Humane Society charged Jennifer $20 to leave Bella there. (Reminder: Jennifer was a Good Samaritan just trying to help another person’s lost pet.) In addition, when Jennifer called back to make arrangements to pull Bella through a rescue group, Houston Humane Society told her that she would have to adopt Bella in order to get her out of Houston Humane Society alive (this was before she discovered that Houston Humane Society had already killed Bella).

According to the Houston Humane Society’s website, their adoption fees for dogs range from $90 to $200. This means that, in addition to the $20 that Jennifer paid to leave a lost dog at a “shelter”, she would also be required to pay another $95 – $200 for the “privilege” of rescuing that same dog 3 days later from a “shelter” that is killing 89% of all animals entering their doors.

In addition, according to the citizen reviews on the websites here and here, it appears that Houston Humane Society does an incredibly horrible job at encouraging adoptions and has atrocious customer service, both of which are significantly important factors in getting animals out of shelters alive. In fact, after reading these reviews, it appears that most of their rules or procedures are geared towards making sure that animals never leave Houston Humane Society alive. It is no wonder that only 11% of animals make it out of the Houston Humane Society alive.

In addition to the above issues, “According to Texas statutes, shelters like the Houston Humane Society, Houston SPCA, Citizens for Animal Protection (CAP) or any other mom and pop shelter, do not have the legal right to impound animals, without a contract with a local government.” said Zandra Anderson, Houston trial attorney and founder of the Texas Dog Commission. The Houston Humane Society, Houston SPCA and CAP do not have government contracts for animal control duties in Houston. In fact, the city of Houston and Harris County both operate their own animal control facilities. (I also recently sent a public information request to the city of Houston asking for all contracts with Houston Humane Society, Houston SPCA and CAP. The city of Houston reported that there are none.)

The above means that the only animals that the Houston Humane Society, Houston SPCA and CAP have the legal authority to admit to their “shelters” are those relinquished by their owners. Admitting strays and lost pets, whether from a citizen who drops them off or whether the “shelters” pick up strays themselves, is impounding animals and they do not have the legal right to impound animals. So these facilities are breaking the law every time that they take in any animal, other than an owner relinquished pet.

The above is true regardless of whether the “shelter” forces a citizen sign a bogus “contract” such as the contract that Jennifer was forced to sign in order to leave Bella at the HHS. Anderson states that “Someone who finds an animal at large, a stray, is not the legal owner of that animal so does not have any ownership rights to convey to a private shelter. Any document that a finder of a stray animal signs purporting to extinguish ownership rights or to convey them, is worthless since this person has no rights to transfer or give up.”

I previously wrote an article asking what right these so called “shelters” have to kill animals. Texas has anti-cruelty laws prohibiting people from killing companion animals, but if some people get together and proclaim themselves a “shelter”, they suddenly have the right to kill companion animals any time that they choose? Obviously, laws in Texas that would actually protect animals from being killed by “shelters”, when alternatives exist, are non-existent. Every heartbreaking story like Jennifer’s that I hear, and I hear a lot of them, makes it abundantly clear that animals desperately need legal protections from the very institutions that proclaim themselves shelters or “humane” societies.

The Companion Animal Protection (CAPA) would provide such protections for shelter animals. CAPAwas filed in the Texas state legislature earlier this year. It was supported by animal lovers and rescuers because of stories like Jennifer’s, and equally repulsive stories, that are coming out of kill shelters far too often. It should come as no surprise to learn that Sherry Ferguson, the director of the Houston Humane Society, opposed Texas CAPA. After all, if Texas had shelter reform laws like CAPA, then Ferguson could not kill thousands of pets each year behind closed doors and in secret. Just like any other business which has the power over life and death, Ferguson would be required by law to be transparent with the public. But Ferguson does not want that.

If Texas CAPA had passed, Ferguson could no longer kill a pet after only 53 hours. She would be required by law to hold a pet longer to give the owner a fighting chance of finding and reclaiming his or her lost pet. But Ferguson does not want that.

If Texas CAPA had passed, Ferguson could no longer kill a pet when a qualified rescue group offered to save that pet, as in Bella’s case. But Ferguson does not want that.

If Texas CAPA had passed, Ferguson could no longer kill animals for arbitrary reasons such as color, breed or age. But Ferguson does not want that. No, she wants to continue to kill all Pit Bulls, or Pit mixes, that enter the Houston Humane Society’s doors, instead of adopting them out.

If Texas CAPA had passed, Ferguson would have to stop blaming the public for the fact that the Houston Humane Society, under her direction, kills 89% of all animals entering their doors and has done so for decades. Ferguson would have to face the fact that the Houston Humane Society does very little to save lives, and in fact hampers the life saving efforts of the community. But Ferguson does not want that.

If Texas CAPA had passed, more people might discover that the Houston Humane Society is not really humane after all, and Ferguson does not want that.

*We don’t know this dog’s real name since she was killed by Houston Humane Society before her owners could be found, but I’m going to call her Bella for this article. (See more pictures of her in the Slideshow posted on this article. If you, or anyone you know, has lost a dog fitting “Bella’s” description, in the Almeda Genoa area, please contact me.

**According the 2005 Mayor’s Task Force Report. This was the last time that the Houston Humane Society was transparent with the public. At that time, they were killing 89% of all animals entering their doors. They were even killing animals from other cities and counties FOR A FEE. That’s right, the Houston Humane Society was taking moneyto kill animals for others. They may still being doing this today. We don’t know if they still are because they currently refuse to be transparent with the public and produce their intake and outcome records.

***Earlier this year, the HHS told Texas state representative, Jessica Farrar that they were designing their own reports and didn’t want it to conflict with state laws. They “said” that this was the reason that they were opposed to Texas CAPA. I’ve looked at their website, and 8 months after their statement, they have yet to post any intake and outcome reports on their website. They continue to hide the number of animals that they are saving or killing from the community. So much for honesty, even when they are talking to a Texas state representative.

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No Kill Houston is excited to announce that their 3rd annual photo contest/fundraiser has begun! We all love to show off our favorite photos of our pets. We keep them on our phones and share them on social media.

Now you can enter your pet(s)’ photo into our photo contest so the whole world can see just how adorable your pet is!

The top Fan Favorite, who receives the most votes, will win the coveted Calendar Cover spot and will be a featured Pin Up model on one month inside the calendar, along with the pet’s name, guardian’s name and a short story about how your pet became a part of your family. (See our 2016 Cover Model, Honey’s, photos and story below for examples.)

Calendar Cover

February’s photo

The next 11 Fan Favorites will be a Pin Up model showcased on each of the remaining 11 months. One winner per month. The pet’s name, guardian’s name and a short story about how your pet became a part of your family will featured with each pet.

All top 12 Fan Favorites will receive a free 2017 calendar! (First place receives 2 calendars).

CLICK HERE to enter your photos into the contest. Then ask all of your friends and family to VOTE for your pet.

Each contest submission and vote is a donation that helps support No Kill Houston, a 501(c)(3).

* 4 Corporate Partners, VIP Field Access passes. (Check-in is between 5:00 and 6:00. Then you will depart for access to the field. Food and beverages will be served.) Your visit to the Texans sideline will be during the team warm-ups prior to game kickoff.

All of the proceeds of this auction benefit No Kill Houston, a 501(c)(3) charity.